The invention concerns an arrangement for sampling crop and storing data relating to characteristics of the crop and more specifically relates to sampling crop that is being baled and storing the data relating to the characteristics of the crop with the formed bale.
DE 195 43 343 A discloses an agricultural baler equipped with sensor technology for the measurement of the load on the operating devices as well as an arrangement for determining the geographic position of the baler at any given time. Furthermore, the mass of the completed bale is weighed. On the basis of the position-dependent measured values from the sensor technology stored in memory and the weighed mass, the mass of the crop taken up is determined as a function of the individual positions. The moisture of the mass of the crop taken up can also be determined as a function of the position. In this way, a yield ticket can be obtained that can be stored, for example, on smart cards, i.e., cards containing a microchip, or on diskettes.
DE 32 32 746 A discloses, in a first embodiment, an agricultural baler in which a moisture measuring arrangement is provided. The moisture measurement is performed, among others, by infra-red light and the result of this measurement can be used to distribute preservatives in properly measured proportions through an appropriate control arrangement over the subsequent path of the harvested crop. If a predetermined limit of moisture is exceeded, the harvested crop can be characterized by means of an appropriate device, for example, by coloring the crop or the yarn binding it or by applying a label.
The problem underlying the invention is seen in the fact that in the state of the art only one method is possible to characterize a bale whose moisture exceeds a certain threshold value. It is not possible to determine other parameters of the individual bales.
According to the present invention, a novel arrangement is provided on an agricultural baler for acquiring and storing various characteristics of a crop being baled.
An object of the invention is to equip a baler with an arrangement for sampling crop entering the baler, determining at least one characteristic of the crop being baled and to record and store the data relating to the characteristic so that it may be read by an appropriate reading device at the storage location after the bale has been transported off the field.
A more specific object, is to provide a baler equipped as set forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein bale-specific data is stored on an electronic storage medium in analog or, preferably, digital form.
Yet a more specific object is to provide a baler equipped, as set forth in the first object appearing above, wherein the arrangement for sampling the crop takes measurements for determining the mass and/or moisture of the crop and to respectively store these values in mass unit, kilogram, or a moisture content in percent.
Still a more specific object is to provide a baler equipped with a crop sampling arrangement which determines at least one characteristic of the crop being fed to the baling chamber, to store the measured data on an electronic storage medium and to tag the bale formed, containing the stream of crop sampled, with the measured data by either inserting the storage medium into the bale or to fasten the storage medium to the outside of the bale.
These and other objects will become apparent from reading the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.